Non-Muslim Women Offer Flowers in Show of Solidarity with Canberra's Islamic Community
New Age Islam News Bureau
7
Oct 2014
Floral wishes: Eliza Spencer, Kathryn Arnold, Fron Garrett, Bec Bull, Annabelle Lee, Radia Fattah, Hannah Dungan, Kirrily Burnett, Talitha Wilson, Gemma White and Tegan Howarth outside the AIS at Bruce on Saturday. Photo: Annabelle Lee
• Muslim
Women From Verbally Attacked While Driving In Newcastle
• Sydney
Strangers Rush To Help Young Muslim Woman and Boy Being Harassed
• Woman
Who Defected From the Islamic State Says She Was Duped
• Female
Kurdish Suicide Bomber 'Kills Dozens of IS Militants' in Kobani
• Yasmine
Raees Wins Best Actress Award at Malmo Festival
• Disenfranchising
Women in Pakistan: ECP Proposes Law against Covert Election Deals
• Women
Sold As Sex Slaves in Iraq and Syria by ISIS Slavers
• Iraqi
Yazidi Woman Awarded Anna Politkovskaya Prize
• British-Iranian
Woman Jailed For Watching Male Sport on Hunger Strike
• Study:
Breast Milk Could Pose Danger for Tunisian Babies
• Forbes
ME names Rasha Al Dhanhani among 200 Most Powerful Arab Women
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/non-muslim-women-offer-flowers/d/99414
----------
Non-Muslim
Women Offer Flowers in Show of Solidarity with Canberra's Islamic Community
7
October 2014
Ten non-Muslim
women, wearing Hijabs and carrying flowers, have touched Canberra's Islamic
community with their simple message of love and solidarity.
After a
week of heightened anti-Islamic rhetoric in Canberra, where numerous
politicians discussed banning the Burqa, 10 women armed only with flowers
attended an ACT Islamic festival to show support for their fellow Canberrans.
At three
locations across Canberra on Saturday the Islamic community celebrated Eid
al-Adha, or the festival of the sacrifice, which involves prayers followed by
family events and feasting.
As
worshippers left the Morning Prayer at the AIS Stadium in Bruce they were met
by the women, who offered flowers to the women and children in attendance.
Twenty-six-year-old
Canberran Annabelle Lee, who helped organise the show of support, said although
reactions from Islamic worshippers were originally cautious, they soon turned
joyous.
"We
told them we were sorry you've been treated so badly in the media and we wanted
to say we stand with you in solidarity and we want to share love instead of
hate," she said.
With
love: Rebecca Bull, Kirrily Burnett, Eliza Spencer, Annabelle Lee, Gemma White
and Hannah Dungan wore Hijabs and gave out flowers at a Islamic service on
weekend at a Muslim service.
"And
when they heard that, many of them wanted to give us a hug, many smiled and
some were brought to tears."
She said
they gave a flower to every woman and child present, while some men asked if
they could take flowers for their wives at home.
Islamic
Society of Belconnen vice-president Hassan Warsi said men and women from
Canberra's Islamic community were touched by the women's gesture.
"They
had people coming forward and putting a [hand] on their shoulder, saying 'Look,
we're here with you. We know you guys are good people like us and we are all in
a community, caring and sharing and it should be an exception," he said.
"It
was obviously a very good feeling and people were touched by that."
Another
Canberra worshipper, who did not want to be named, said everyone had
appreciated what Ms Lee and her friends had done, adding it had left them
"joyful".
"It
was a very unique approach to the Muslims in every way, to show harmony and to
show their respect. If there's a team Australia, they want us included as
well," he said.
Ms Lee
said she and her friends came up with the idea when they were having a
conversation with their friend Radia, who is a practicising Muslim.
"She
told us how she hadn't been attacked personally but she felt very
self-conscious at the moment. When she went to the shops nobody would talk to
her and she didn't feel very safe at that time," she said.
"So
we [thought] what can we do in this situation as a positive thing rather than
doing nothing and keep having these women feel like they're being judged?"
Mr Warsi
said he hadn't noticed any change in community attitudes to him or his family
in Canberra since the recent announcement of Australia sending planes to help
in the fight against Islamic State .
He said
Canberra was a very accepting community.
"I
can say I've lived here for a long time and Canberra is a lot more accepting
than many."
http://www.canberratimes.com.au/act-news/nonmuslim-women-offer-flowers-in-show-of-solidarity-with-canberras-islamic-community-20141007-10r5e0.html#ixzz3FRoE0Nvn
----------
Muslim Women
From Verbally Attacked While Driving In Newcastle
By Lucy
McNally
7 Oct
2014
Two
Muslim women have been left shaken after they were verbally attacked about
their religion while driving through Newcastle.
A
26-year-old woman was driving with her mother in the front passenger seat when
they stopped in traffic on Smith Street about 7:00pm (AEST) on Monday.
A
27-year-old man approached them on foot and started abusing and threatening
them, police said.
"He's
made derogatory statements about their religion," Chief Inspector Dean
Olsen said.
"He
struck the side view mirror and then continued with a verbal tirade."
The
women drove off but pulled over a short distance away to fix the car's mirror.
The man
followed them and continued the abuse.
"It
was at this time that several members of the public got involved and tried to
stop this man doing what he's doing," Chief Inspector Olsen said.
"He's
turned on them and made a few threats and assaulted at least one of those
people."
A man
who went to the aid of the women was punched, but not badly hurt.
Chief
Inspector Olsen said the man stole mobile phones from two of the people who
intervened before running off.
"He
was apprehended by the members of the public and they retrieved their property,
but he fled the scene again," he said.
"A
short time later police arrived and effected the arrest."
The man
has been charged with two counts of intimidation, two counts of larceny, one
count of assault and one count of malicious damage.
He spent
the night in police custody and will face Newcastle Local Court today.
Chief
Inspector Olsen said the woman and her mother have been left shaken by the
attack.
"The
two ladies in the car were quite shaken by what occurred but they did not come
to any physical harm," he said.
He has
praised the actions of the witnesses who intervened.
"Certainly
from a policing perspective I’m quite comforted by the fact that our society is
such a good one that people will intervene and stop people from being
interfered with in this way," he said.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-07/muslim-women-verbally-attacked-while-driving-in-nsw/5794522
----------
Sydney
Strangers Rush To Help Young Muslim Woman and Boy Being Harassed
7
October 2014
The
young Muslim woman stands in shock as she is told she looks like a terrorist in
the heart of Sydney's CBD – but it's what happens next that most shocked the
man who orchestrated the nasty abuse.
In
seconds, a group of schoolgirls run towards the Hijab-wearing woman, but before
they can reach her another group of girls grab her by the arm and whisk her
away from the putrid attack.
And when
there weren't girls to defend the Muslim woman, dozens of other onlookers
stridently defended her against the acting bigot who was set up in a social
experiment to test the reaction by random Australians to Islamic abuse.
The
results have stunned thousands and spread quickly around the world showing
Australia as a role model for tolerance.
At one
stage in the four-and-a-half-minute video, a mother walking with her family approaches
as a Muslim boy is being abused and angrily tells the bigot to leave the child
alone.
"Don't
you dare speak to people like that. How dare you? These people belong here too,
as much as we do. Alright? If you don't like it, go live somewhere else," the
mother says.
Her
reaction almost made the video's director Kamal Saleh cry.
"This
video is hard proof that the Australian public do not welcome hate against
Muslims. Yes it does occur but it is clearly not welcome," Mr Saleh said.
The
media and law student at Macquarie University told ninemsn he expected most
witnesses to ignore the Muslim woman and boy who participated in the
experiment.
"We
did not expect every single person that witnessed the attack to
intervene," he said.
"It
was an overwhelming response. It reaffirmed our view of humanity."
The
footage was shot at Hyde Park last Thursday between 2pm and 5pm.
The
video has had more than 350,000 views since being uploaded online, and Mr Saleh
said he had received praise from around the world.
He said journalists
in Turkey were inspired by the level of tolerance of Australians, and people in
Germany wanted to broadcast the video as an example of acceptance.
Mr Saleh
said the debate in recent weeks around the attire of Muslim women inspired him
to do the social experiment to test if anti-Islamic views were widespread.
"I'm
optimistic for the future of Australia," he said.
"I
hope these people will be role models, not only for Australians but for the
rest of the world.
"Definitely
there are those incidences ... when we find a rare bigoted individual. But as
Muslims we always have to keep our head up and whatever challenge is brought to
us we know we have the tools to counter that."
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2014/10/07/10/29/sydney-strangers-help-muslim-woman-boy-harassed-terrorism-experiment#Ve68mm6QlLtwt4hR.99
----------
Woman
who defected from the Islamic State says she was duped
7
October 2014
A
25-year-old woman who joined the Islamic State during the Syrian uprising says
she became disillusioned by the militant group's brutality and defected.
The
woman, who calls herself Khadija, told CNN she grew up in Syria and was
teaching elementary school when she began attending peaceful protests against
President Bashar Assad.
But when
the uprising unraveled into violence, she was lured to join the extremist group
by a Tunisian man she met online. The man assured her the Islamic State was not
a terrorist organization, but that the war necessitated violence.
"Everything
around us was chaos," she said. "The regime, barrel bombs, strikes,
the wounded, clinics, blood — you want to tear yourself away, to find something
to run to. My problem was I ran away to something uglier.
"He
would say, 'We are going to properly implement Islam. Right now we are in a
state of war, a phase where we need to control the country, so we have to be
harsh.'"
The
woman's cousin was living in Raqqa with her husband — himself a member of the
Islamic State — and invited her to join the al-Khansa brigade, an all-female
police force that enforces the extremist group's rules for women.
"At
the start, I was happy with my job. I felt that I had authority in the
streets," she said. "But then I started to get scared, scared of my
situation. I even started to be afraid of myself."
It was
with al-Khansa that she witnessed the group's extreme violence firsthand,
including a beheading.
"The
worst thing I saw was a man getting his head hacked off in front of me,"
she said.
When her
commander began pressuring her to marry him, her fear boiled over.
"The
foreign fighters are very brutal with women, even the ones they marry,"
she said. "There were cases where the wife had to be taken to the
emergency ward because of the violence, the sexual violence.
"So
it was at this point, I said enough. After all that I had already seen and all
the times I stayed silent, telling myself, 'We're at war, then it will all be
rectified.'"
Khadija
says she left the group last month — days before the U.S.-led coalition
airstrikes began — and was smuggled across the border to Turkey, where her
interview with CNN was conducted.
She's
speaking out now, she says, because she wants to prevent women like her from
joining the Islamic State militant group.
"I
don't want anyone else to be duped by them," she said.
https://news.yahoo.com/isis-defector-speaks-khansa-a-brigade-islamic-state-134522135.html
----------
Female
Kurdish Suicide Bomber 'Kills Dozens of IS Militants' in Kobani
7
October 2014
The
Kurdish forces in the Isis-besieged the town of Kobani have confirmed that a
woman suicide bomber, named as Arin Mirkan, killed dozens of jihadists in the
town's eastern position by blowing herself up.
The
attack, first reported by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, allowed the
Kurdish forces to strike back at Sunni Islamists pounding the town on three
sides with tanks and mortar fires.
The
battle for Kobani is seen as a key step to stopping the advance of the Isis
(now known as Islamic State) militants, who are less than one mile from the
town after seizing part of the strategic Mishtenur Hill which overlooks the
territory.
Idris
Nahsen, a local Kobani official, said that US-led air strikes alone were not
sufficient to stop Islamic State (IS) forces.
The
Kurdish YPG or People's Defence Units, reported that 15 of its fighters died in
action while battling IS.
"Of
our martyrs was valiant comrade Arin [Mirkan], she was able to perform a fedai
action [self-immolation] and kill dozens of Isis mercenaries and stop their
advance, such strong will and determination shown by comrade Arin will be the
spirit of resistance in the hearts of all of our combatants of the People's
Defence Units and Women's Defence Units," a YPG statement said.
"If
needed, all of our fighters will be comrade Arin and shall not allow the
mercenaries reach their wishes at whatever cost."
The
Syrian observatory noted that seven new US-led coalition strikes against Isis
were conducted in the Kobani area. It reported that at least 33 Isis fighters
and 23 of the town's Kurdish defenders were killed.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/syria-isis-news-female-kurdish-suicide-bomber-kills-dozens-islamic-state-militants-kobani-1468690
----------
Yasmine
Raees Wins Best Actress Award at Malmo Festival
7
October 2014
Released
in March 2014, Factory Girl by Egyptian director Mohamed Khan is a feature
movie about a young woman in a textile factory (Yasmeen El-Raees) who falls in
love with her manager, Salah (Hany Adel).
The film
has been screened during the fourth Malmo Arab Film Festival which took place
between 26 and 30 September and brought El-Raees the Best Actress Award.
Factory
Girl, the third collaboration between Khan and scriptwriter Wissam Soliman,
deals with interweaving themes and triggers paradoxical emotions. It is about
the “rosy” dreams that make life possible, but that are also often crushed by a
classist, patriarchal and judgmental society.
Most
recently, the committee formed from members of the Egypt Cinema Syndicate has
chosen Mohamed Khan's Factory Girl to be the official entry for the Oscar's
Best Foreign Language Film 2015, according to the movie's fan page.
During
the Malmo festival, Egypt was represented by three movies: Factory Girl, Ayten
Amin's Villa 69 and social drama, The Ferry (Al-Me'adiya), directed by Attia
Amin.
Features
from other Arab countries include Ladder to Damascus by renowned Syrian
director Mohamed Malas, Hany Abu-Assad's Palestinian drama, Omar which was
nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 2014 Academy Awards and Adios
Carmen, a UAE drama directed by Mohamed Amin Benamraoui, among other entries.
http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/5/32/112431/Arts--Culture/Film/Yasmine-Raees-wins-best-actress-award-at-Malmo-fes.aspx
----------
Disenfranchising
Women in Pakistan: ECP Proposes Law against Covert Election Deals
7
October 2014
ISLAMABAD:
In a bid to clamp down on the practice of cutting covert deals and convening
Jirgas to disenfranchise women, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has
sought legal powers to annul polls in any constituency where women are barred
from voting.
In its
new set of proposed laws – tagged as unified election laws – submitted with the
parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, the ECP suggested the parliament
enhance the scope of legal provisions pertaining to ‘undue influence on
elections’ to include such covert deals. The proposed legislation will empower
the ECP to cancel poll results in any constituency – either partially or
completely – after a summary trial.
“If,
from facts apparent on the face of the record and after such summary inquiry as
it may deem necessary, the [Election] Commission is satisfied that by reason of
grave illegalities or violation of the provisions of this Act or the rules; or
that an agreement … has been entered into restraining women from exercising
their right to vote, the poll in that constituency ought to be declared void as
a whole or a part thereof … [and the ECP may] call upon the electors of that
constituency to elect a member of the assembly in the manner provided for in Section 87 or… order re-poll at the
polling station or polling stations of the area of which the election has been
declared void,” reads the text of relevant provision in the proposed new set of
laws.
The ECP
has also proposed criminal cases against any individuals involved in any deal
to disenfranchise women during elections. “The Commission may order filing of
complaint… before a court of competent jurisdiction against persons who entered
into such agreement,” the proposed amendment reads.
Several
proposals to curb incidents of women being barred from voting – either because
of a covert deal among local politicians and contesting candidates or because
of a decision by a tribal Jirga – have been considered over the years.
One
early proposal recommended a re-poll in any constituency where the number of
votes cast by women was found to be less than 10% of the area’s population.
This proposal was rejected by a similar parliamentary panel during the Pakistan
People Party government.
The
recent proposals, although vague and harder to adjudicate compared to the one
put forward under the PPP government, can still serve as a deterrent against
gross violation of women’s basic rights. It is not clear yet if the
parliamentary committee will accept the new proposal. Once it completes its
work, it will present the draft to parliament for final approval.
The
committee, which was set up after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s wrote a letter
to National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq in June this year, started work on
August 6.
It was
supposed to complete its task within three months, but after the passage of
nearly two months, it is still at the initial stages of its work. The panel is
unlikely to complete its task within the given timeframe.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/771826/disenfranchising-women-ecp-proposes-law-against-covert-election-deals/
----------
Women
sold as sex slaves in Iraq and Syria by ISIS slavers
7
October 2014
In
undoubtedly the most atrocious display of human rights abuses, ISIS extremists
have created slave markets in Mosul, Iraq and in Syria. Hundreds of Christian and
Yazidi women and children have been herded to these markets and either given to
ISIS fighters as "rewards," or sold for as little as $10 as sex
slaves.
The
slave markets in the al-Quds area of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria are being
used to recruit new fighters to the extremist group, according to the UN
report. The report is based on interviews with over 450 interviews with Iraqi
witnesses and surviving victims to the alleged war crimes.
According
to the 29-page report, “Women and girls are brought with price tags for the
buyers to choose and negotiate the sale. The buyers were said to be mostly
youth from the local communities. Apparently ISIL was ‘selling’ these Yezidi
women to the youth as a means of inducing them to join their ranks.”
Militants
killed a female candidate running for a local office back in July, and has
ordered married female doctors in hospitals to wear black. Unmarried females
are ordered to wear other colors to distinguish them from the married doctors.
The UN estimates almost 9,000 Iraqi civilians have lost their lives this year
in the conflict, and 1.5 million have been displaced.
In
Raqqa, an ISIS stronghold in Syria, over 3,000 Yazidi women and girls are kept
locked-up in brothels patrolled by an all female religious police force, known
as the al-Khanssaa Brigade. The leaders of this battalion are said to be female
British jihadists. A source told the IBTimes, "It is the British women who
have risen to the top of the Islamic State's sharia police and now they are in
charge of this operation."
Zeid
Ra’ad al-Hussein is the UN’s human rights chief, and the first Arab and Muslim
to hold this post. He cited a letter sent by 126 Muslim scholars to the head of
the Islamic State on Sept. 19. In the letter, the scholars emphasize that the
acts being perpetrated by the Islamic State against Christians, Yazidis and
others, including the mass murders and beheadings of journalists and aid
workers is not endorsed or permitted by Islam.
"It
clearly states that in Islam it is forbidden to kill the innocent, or to kill
emissaries, ambassadors and diplomats -- hence also journalists and aid
workers; torture and the re-introduction of slavery are also forbidden, as are
forcible conversion, the denial of rights to women and a multitude of other
acts being carried out by this Takfiri group on a daily basis," said Zeid.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/news/world/women-sold-as-sex-slaves-in-iraq-and-syria-by-isis-slavers/article/407071
----------
Iraqi
Yazidi woman awarded Anna Politkovskaya prize
7 October
2014
Iraqi legislator Vian Dakhil on Monday
received the Anna Politkovskaya prize for her denunciation of the jihadist
group Islamic State over its brutal treatment of Yazidi women.
The
award – handed out by London-based organisation RAW in WAR to honour women
working to help those trapped in conflict – is named after crusading Russian
journalist Anna Politkovskaya who was gunned down in Moscow on October 7, 2006.
Vian
Dakhil has given "a voice to the many Yazidi and Iraqi women and girls
whose voices cannot be heard," the organisation said in a statement.
Dakhil,
the only Yazidi legislator in Iraq, welcomed the award but called for greater
attention to be given to the plight of the Yazidi minority in the face of the
onslaught by the Sunni militants from the Islamic State (IS) group.
"It
is a pleasure for anyone to be honoured with an award, but it is rare to see a
Yazidi person who can feel happy from the bottom of their heart due to the fact
that our girls, women and children are in captivity as hostages of the most
dangerous organisation in the world," she wrote in an acceptance speech.
Yazidi
women kidnapped by IS jihadists in Iraq have been taken to Syria, forced to
convert and sold into marriage to militants, rights groups say.
In
August, IS captured Yazidi villages in the area of Mount Sinjar, prompting an
exodus of the minority amid reports of executions and the abduction of women.
Last
year's Anna Politkovskaya prize was given to teenage Pakistani activist Malala
Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for insisting on the right of girls to
get an education.
A
reporter at liberal newspaper Novaya Gazeta, who had been a fierce critic of
the Kremlin's tactics in Russia's Chechnya region, Politkovskaya was gunned
down at age 48 in the lobby of her Moscow apartment block.
A
Russian court in June jailed five men for their roles in her murder, but those
who ordered her killing have never been identified.
http://www.yourmiddleeast.com/news/iraqi-yazidi-woman-awarded-anna-politkovskaya-prize_27071
----------
British-Iranian
woman jailed for watching male sport on hunger strike
7
October 2014
A
British-Iranian woman imprisoned in Tehran after trying to attend a men's
volleyball match has gone on hunger strike to mark her 100 days in custody, her
mother said.
Ghoncheh
Ghavami was arrested on June 20 near the Azadi ("Freedom" in Persian)
stadium in the capital, where the national volleyball team was due to play
Italy in a World League game.
She was
released within hours but then rearrested a few days later. Iranian officials
have since said that Ghavami, from London, was detained for security reasons
unrelated to the volleyball match but no charges have been formally stated.
However,
the 25-year-old, a law graduate, has decided to stop eating as a protest, her
mother said in an emotive Facebook post late Sunday, which outlined fears for
her daughter's health.
"Yesterday,
I finally saw my Ghoncheh. She said she's been on a hunger strike since
Wednesday. God, I can't breathe," Susan Moshtaghian wrote.
"She
said that she's fed up with this 100 day uncertainty ... I will not touch food
either until the day that my Ghoncheh will break her hunger strike."
Ghoncheh's
relatives have campaigned for her release on social media and have raised the
case with Britain's Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The
"Free Ghonche Ghavami" Facebook page features photographs of her
against the slogan: "Jailed for wanting to watch a volleyball match."
"It's
been a while that she has no more interrogations but her detention has not
ended," Moshtaghian wrote.
"God,
you've been my witness, I have remained silent for 82 days so that my innocent
daughter returns home.
"She
hasn't returned and now her life and health is in danger. I will no longer sit
silently. God end this nightmare; give me strength to save the piece (sic) of
my heart."
In
Sunday's Facebook update, Ghavami's mother said there had been attempts to
dismiss her daughter's lawyer, Alizadeh Tabatabaie, and to get her to accept
new charges relating to her case.
Tabatabaie
told AFP on Monday that he was barred from speaking to the foreign press.
Ghavami's
arrest came after female fans and even women journalists were told they would
not be allowed to attend the volleyball match.
National
police chief General Esmail Ahmadi Moghaddam said it was "not yet in the
public interest" for men and women to attend such events together.
"The police are applying the law," he said.
Women
are also banned from attending football matches in Iran, with officials saying
this is to protect them from lewd behavior among male fans.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2014/10/06/Jailed-British-Iranian-woman-starts-hunger-strike.html
----------
Study:
breast milk could pose danger for Tunisian babies
7
October 2014
Breast
milk is widely accepted as the healthiest form of nutrition for infants, but
for Tunisian babies the mother’s milk could pose a serious danger.
A recent
study published on Environmental Research journal found “widespread and
elevated contamination” of women’s breast milk in Tunisia with banned
chemicals, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organochlorine (OC)
pesticides.
The
concentrations of these chemicals were found in 237 human breast milk samples
collected from 12 locations in the North African country.
“Concentrations
of DDTs in human breast milk from rural areas were significantly higher than
those from urban locations,” according to the study. High dairy and meat intake
was cited as one of the reasons behind the high level of contamination in
breast milk taken from rural women.
The
Stockholm Convention on POP, which seeks to eliminate the pollutants by
restraining their production, use and sale. The Global Environment Facility has
given the country $16.7 million to help eliminate the chemical compounds by
2017.
The
Stockholm Convention currently focuses on 12 POPs of immediate concern — often
referred to as “the dirty dozen”— pesticides, industrial chemicals, and
unintentional byproducts, according to a report by the Global Environment
Facility.
The
pesticides are aldrin, chlordane, DDT, diel-drin, endrin, heptachlor,
hexachlorobenzene (HCB), mirex, and toxaphene; the industrial chemicals are
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and HCB (also mentioned under “pesticides”);
and the unintentional byproducts are dioxin and furans (as well as PCBs and
HCB). Unintentional chemical byproducts result from combustion and industrial
processes and are among the most potent cancer-causing chemicals known.
http://english.alarabiya.net/en/life-style/healthy-living/2014/10/07/Study-breast-milk-could-pose-danger-for-Tunisian-babies.html
----------
Forbes
ME names Rasha Al Dhanhani among 200 Most Powerful Arab Women
7
October 2014
UAE’s
Rasha Al Dhanhani, known to many as the mastermind behind Pappa Roti Café, has
been named one of the 200 Most Powerful Women in the Arab World for 2014 by
Forbes magazine. The glitzy honoring ceremony was attended by Sheikh Nahyan bin
Mubarak Al-Nahyan, the United Arab Emirates’ Minister for Culture, Youth and
Community Development and took place on Oct. 1 at Music Hall, Zaabeel Saray
Hotel on Palm Jumeirah.
Al
Dhanhani’s inclusion in the prestigious list means she has joined the likes of
most powerful Arab business women. She took the 56th position in the Arab world
and 14th among the 26 Emirati women who made it to the top 200. Honored as
Entrepreneur of the Year in last year’s Arab Women Award, Dhanhani’s high-rank
result in the Forbes list came as expected.
The Most
Powerful Women in the Arab World List is compiled by Forbes editors on the
basis of a full range of criteria which include among others: degree of power
associated with the position, years in operation and professional experience,
extent of global coverage.
Al
Dhanhani is the Chairperson of PappaRoti Café, the Malaysian brand which she
has transformed into a favorite café in several countries in the Middle East
and beyond. Al Dhanhani holds the franchise licensing rights for PappaRoti in
the GCC, Middle East, CIS, North Africa, India, Paris, Switzerland and Brazil.
Expressing
deep appreciation, Al Dhanhani said: “I’ve always been passionate about
entrepreneurship and believed the impact earnest pursuits bring to society in
general. I didn’t think that such
passion would one day put my name in the Forbes list. That I am recognized as
influential in the Arab world in a very positive way is truly an honor.”
She
added: I strongly believe in the Empowerment of Women and what better way to
set an example of women empowerment than for me to be listed on the Forbes
magazine as one of the 200 Most Powerful Women in the Arab World for 2014.
AL
Dhanhani has proven her position of power with Rasha Investments and Brandnoise
Creative Agency which she both owns. Combining business skills with her
marketing savvy, she has multiplied her PappaRoti Café business to more than 53
outlets in the Middle East region in only five years. To date, she has
empowered many entrepreneurs with franchise opportunities and is actively
creating job opportunities to hundreds of employees in the region.
Besides
her business expertise, her ethical leadership and commitment to provide people
the best, whether customers or staffs, make Rasha Al Dhanhani the successful
executive that she is today. She is an inspiration to anyone who dreams of
taking something small and turning it into a multi-million dollar enterprise.
http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20141007220437
----------
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/non-muslim-women-offer-flowers/d/99414